Patricia Honor Richardson MBE (née Greene; born January 1931) is an English actress. She is best known as the voice of Jill Archer on the BBC Radio 4 radio soap opera The Archers.
Greene is one of the world's longest-serving actors in a soap opera, in any medium.
Early life
Patricia Honor Greene was born in Allenton, Derby, England in January 1931. She is the youngest of two children to Josie Greene (née Johnson), a housewife, and Edward Greene, an engineer and former piano salesman. She has an older sister. Greene and her family moved to Champion Street in the New Zealand area, before moving to Kirk Street in Chester Green. She has recalled experiences of her mother having extramarital affairs, in which she would bring men to the family home and order Patricia not to tell their father.
Greene attended Ashgate Infants School on Ashbourne Road and St Paul's Junior School. She also attended Parkfields Cedars Grammar School. She later joined an amateur dramatic society. Greene trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London from 1951 to 1954.
Greene worked as a ward orderly at the Derby Children's Hospital. She also worked as a secretary in the sheet metal factory of Hawk Industries. She worked as a bus conductress on the trolley bus in Derby, and as a waitress during the holidays.
Greene once noticed her father crying at one of her theatre performances. She credits that moment with her wanting to become an actress.
Career
Greene made her broadcasting debut in 1957, after being told "you'll never be a broadcaster, you sound like a fairy in hockey boots" by her then 84-year old tutor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Greene joined the cast of the BBC Radio 4 radio soap opera The Archers on 25 July 1957. She is the long-standing voice of Jill Archer (née Patterson). She was the sixth, and last, actress to audition and thought she would not get the role. Greene found the first six weeks tough due to her inexperience. She recalled that on her second day, she took stage directions too far and threw a glass of water over Norman Painting, who portrayed Phil Archer, and nearly electrocuted him. This impressed the creator Godfrey Baseley and he kept her in the serial. She was paid seven guineas a week. Greene was tempted to leave the series when her son was a toddler but felt a loyalty to the programme and stayed. She was paid £16,000 for her work on the series in 2017.
Greene portrayed Margaret Richmond in the first episode of the BBC One medical soap opera Doctors on 26 March 2000. She reprised the role for a second time in the 20 April 2000 episode. Greene portrayed Ivy Watson in the 22 October 2000 episode of the BBC One medical drama Casualty. Greene was the guest on the 27 December 2015 episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.
Personal life
Greene married actor Henry George Selway in October 1959 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The couple divorced a few years later.
Greene married Cyril Austen Richardson in April 1972 in Windsor, Berkshire. The couple have one son. She was widowed in November 1986.
Greene is a patron of the Macular Society.
Honours
Greene was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1997 Birthday Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for services to radio drama.
Greene recieved an honorary degree from the University of Derby as a Master of Arts in 2017.
Filmography
Radio
Film and television
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